A/N: *quietly holds funeral for soul* College has killed me, but I will carry on. I love this fic too much to give up. On a side note, I am going back through all the chapters and editing. There are a lot of mistakes. Please, please, please let me know if you stop any. Proofreading doesn't always work, and I appreciate it. :)

Dead Men Walking

The first is Fenrir, who was born of Anger.

The second is Jormungand, who was born of Jealousy.

The last is Hela, who was born of Grief.

Chapter Eleven: Anger

A staff of ice formed in Loki's grasp. It burned and stung with a cold fierceness. Loki could hear the thrum of Mjolnir being called to Thor's war ready grip. Magic was potent in the air, calling to all his senses. Loki needed to act quickly.

Thor responded, confusion in his voice. "I know not what you speak of. I have not—"

"Liar!" Loki screamed, the accusation burning as it flew out his lips.

The hammer burst through the floor behind Thor and into his hand, right as Loki lunged forward. Loki slammed his staff down as Thor brought up his hammer in defense. An ear-piercing echo rang as the weapons collided.

"Please, calm this madness," Thor pleaded. "We can sort this out together!"

The warrior's stance was firm; Loki's staff unwavering as he pressed downwards. Both veiled their shock that the staff did not break under Mjolnir's might. Loki's grip weakened yet resiliently held as he released one hand. In his palm, Loki produced a shard of ice. Before he could plunge the shard into Thor's chest, a repulsor ray blasted and knocked Loki clear across the room.

Loki's back cracked harshly against the wall next to the TARDIS. He could hear the Doctor banging on the door, but the TARDIS was frosted over and frozen—even her panels inside. In the back of his mind, Loki knew he would have to pay for it. To the Doctor and the TARDIS.

Stark stood in front of him, caught in his usual arrogant saunter. "Nice of you to pay us a visit, Frosty."

The other Avengers, noticeably without the Hulk, filed into the room, causing Loki to flash back to how his earlier invasion ended. He leapt to his feet and growled.

"Don't play coy, brother. Tell me the whereabouts of Fenrir, and I will leave your petty realm unharmed."

"Fenrir? I have not seen him since he," Thor hesitated, "left Asgard."

"Since he left in chains, you mean," Loki said.

-(/)-

Fenrir was small. Tiny in Loki's arms. The pup's mother rested on the pelt in the cave, exhausted after giving birth. "Fenrir," Loki murmured softly. "You will be Fenrir, a fine prince of Asgard."

His son yipped in agreement.

-(/)-

Loki counted his enemies and their positions. His brother, firm and in front, was flanked by four other Avengers. The Hulk and the beast's rage was currently absent of this battle. Loki filed that tidbit away. A part of him was relieved; the other dreaded the beast's inevitable return to thrashing him about the battleground.

Thor's eyes shifted to the TARDIS, familiar with the blue box and who wielded it. The Doctor's pounding, fiddling, and pleading hadn't ceased. A light bulb clicked. Thor quickly returned his attention to his dangerous, seething brother. "It was the Doctor. He helped you escaped Asgard."

"Your manners of deduction remain astounding," Loki retorted. "Have to have it glaring you in the face, as always?"

"He's been nothing but kind to you, yet you take advantage?" Thor snapped.

Words failed Loki's silvertongue. Thor spoke the truth, and Loki hadn't a lie ready to weave. The Doctor had taken Loki on adventures, had tried to show him the good in humanity, and rescued him on several occasions. Yet they were, nearly a year after the invasion, in the same tower with weapons drawn. The Doctor's voice could be heard.

"It doesn't have to be like this! You can let me help!"

Loki's shoulders sagged, and an expression of remorse painted his face. He looked at Thor with guilt in his eyes, the kind that reminded Thor of childhood. When Loki committed a naughty act, but was overcome with shame and professed his guilt. Thor saw hope and redemption. Thor opened his arms, wishing to embrace his brother had seen the error of his ways.

"Brother, you…" Loki started.

Thor's heart swelled at the word 'brother!'

The frost tinted on the windows expanded and hardened to thick ice. Nobody noticed, too intent on focusing on the exchange between gods. All but Barton and Natasha weakened their battle ready stances.

"It will be okay, Loki," Thor promised. "We can go home together!"

"… are a fool," Loki finished quietly.

Ice shot from the floor, snaking along the legs of all the Avengers save Thor. The ice covered around their weapons, rendering them useless.

-(/)-

Loki strode proudly through the streets of Asgard on his way to palace. He had been gone for several months now, but he knew it was worth the wait. In his arms was his son, the bundle of soft fur that gave Loki such pride. The onlookers gave him befuddled stares, wondering why their absent prince was returning with a wolf cub.

A blonde woman slipped beside and walked with him.

"Hello, Amora," Loki greeted to his fellow magic apprentice. "This is my son, Fenrir."

'Son,' Amora mouthed in disbelief. "Like Sleipnir? Did you turn into…?"

"No," Loki retorted. "On the ambassador trip to Nóatún, I met a woman."

-(/)-

Weapons clashed. Furniture was destroyed. Insults were thrown, mostly by Tony's despair of his tower getting thrashed again by the same villain.

Loki slipped. Thor's hammer slammed into his gut. There was a brief flash of worry across Thor's face as Loki crashed through Stark's window. Ice and glass shattered against Loki's back, ripping and tearing against cloth and exposed skin. He could hear Stark's laughter. For a moment, Loki closed his eyes as he fell, feeling the piercing wind howl beneath him.

It would be simple not to do anything. Fall until the ground crushed his flesh and bones. Broken, bruised, and limp enough for Thor to haul his prisoner back to Asgard once more. No TARDIS to break this fall. No Doctor to save him.

Yet he had his children to rescue.

Loki turned to face the incoming ground. He extended the two halves of his broken staff and murmured a spell. Ice escalated from his staff, catapulting him to atop of abandoned vehicles. The metal dented beneath his boots. He flashed a crazed snakelike grin to the horrified citizens. They ran, the Invasion, and subsequent attacks, fresh in memory.

The madman laughed. He craned his neck to the tower, spotting his false-brother. "This can all end. Not one of your precious humans has to be hurt. Not another building destroyed. Simply tell me where my children are located!"

High above, Thor sadly shook his head at his speck of a brother. "I fear he has gone mad."

Stark scoffed. "Shocker. Don't be alarmed, but not only is crazy nothing new, but this ice is growing. Might want to step up on taking him down, big guy."

"Aye." Thor nodded before leaping down to meet his adversary.

It pained him. He could take the cuts, the scars, and the verbal lashings. Reasoning wasn't working with Loki. Loki was too angry. Thor resigned with the knowledge of what he had to do, and it would hurt more than abuse. At this point, the only way to stop Loki was by force. Disable him to the point that he had no choice but to listen.

In the back of his mind, doubt crept.

-(/)-

Stark was the closest to the broken window, relaying with near giddiness a play by play. Barton made the occasional snarky remark. The TARDIS entranced Rogers, his eyes unable to move away from it. Natasha rolled her eyes and focused on assessing the situation.

"JARVIS, what's the word on Dr. Banner?"

"He made it safely down his lab without incident," replied the calm electronic voice. "He is in contact with SHIELD at the moment and alerted the police of advised evacuation measures."

Natasha gave a curt nod in acknowledgement, and JARVIS's voiced seemed to snap out the group into attention.

There was an explosion outside. The ice around them began melting, still thick, but workable. Stark used his repulsors while Barton twisted until he got hold of an arrow.

JARVIS's posh voice occurred on the intercom. "SHIELD will not be able to provide any assistance. They are currently dealing with the threat of the Enchantress in the Atlantic."

Stark's attention was back outside. In the distance, lighting hurled from the sky, but a spiral of ice collided with in the air. The lightning froze midair, and the exploded into tiny shards.

The ice melted around them.

There was buzzing from the blue box and the door opened. The Doctor stepped out, straightening his bow tie.

-(/)-

Loki stormed into Amora's abode on the outskirts of the city. The woman remained silent in the middle of her living quarters. She sat cross legged, eyes clothes, focusing on a spell she had been practicing for months. Around her sitting form were circles of runes. Loki stomped across the room, smudging the symbols.

Amora opened a green eye. "You abandon your studies to frolic and then disrupt my own? What do you want?"

"They hate him", Loki whispered. "They say my son is unworthy to his princely title."

Amora closed her eyes again. "That is hardly a surprise."

-(/)-

The streets were alive with fire, ice and destruction. Both of the gods were exhausted, torn, and unyielding. The last explosion, the collision of Thor's lighting and Loki's ice threw them to opposite ends. Loki could barely move. He lied atop the rubble from a part of a collapsed apartment building, body barely able to move. He had, once again, underestimated his false-brother.

The winds shifted. Loki blinked. No, it couldn't be. It had been a very long time since he had felt that presence. He turned his head and coughed out a gasp.

A blonde woman clad in green strolled down the center of the street. She popped up a brow at Loki's body splayed amongst rubble. "I thought I felt your presence… but how you alive? First the fall, and then the fire. My, my…"

Loki snorted. "A devil doesn't reveal his tricks, you know that."

"This changes everything," she murmured. Amora did not move any further. Loki appeared weak, but that meant nothing. "Can you feel it?" She asked. "At your core?"

Loki heaved himself out of the rubble and onto his aching feet. The staff was several difference pieces, scattered about the battleground. "I haven't a clue what you refer to." He furrowed his brow. "How did you escape banishment?"

In the distance, he could hear the incoming Iron Man. His magic must have weakened the ice. Loki cursed. Stark's voice boomed. "Thor, buddy, watch out for the Enchantress! She was spotted taking a giant snake from the Atlantic!"

Loki did not know how to process this information. "Jormungand," he murmured. His serpent son, brother to Fenrir and Hela who lived in Midgard's oceans. "You… You were the one who captured Fenrir!" His body shook with rage and fatigue. First Fenrir, and now Jormungand?

"Ding, ding, ding," chimed the Enchantress. "Oh, do you like the new title? I think it fits, hmm?"

Loki ignored the last bit. "And what of Hela?" Please, not Hela.

The witch's lips curved to a smirk. "Who do you think instructed me on how to retrieve them?"

Thor pulled himself from the dent in the car from down the street. His voice thundered with a single question. "Why?" Loki's kin was family, even if Loki couldn't see that. "Return them at once!"

She clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Not when you're at stake, love." She snapped her fingers. Behind her a portal began swirling, violets, blues, and twinges of gold circling round and round, hints of the destination blinking through.

And something clicked in Thor's head. As simple as two magnets finally coming together. How to win Loki back. How to prove that he still loved his brother and he needed to come home. "Brother," Thor turned to Loki. "I promised Mother to bring you home. I will. You and your kin so you can feel at home again. I promise."

Loki trailed after his brother and tripped on the rocks and ruins.

Thor's body was worn, pushed to his limits, but pushed forward. He raced to the closing portal that the Enchantress was slipping through. He could vision it. A happy family for his brother. Just as the portal began to close, Thor entered it. Loki merely watched.

-(/)-

Fenrir, still a pup, whined and curled next to his father atop the bed. Loki ran his fingers along the soft fur of his son. He whispered soft, soothing words.

"We musn't let the courts and the king ruin us," he said almost to himself. "Tomorrow, I will seek out your mother. 'til I find her, Thor promised to care for you." He kissed Fenrir's muzzle. "Fret not. Father will take care of it."

He sung gentle, ancient lullabies, the kind he knew from childhood. As his son lulled off into slumber, Loki contemplated his future. Amora had advised seeking Angrboda. He knew that he could trust her advice, the only non-relative friend he had in Asgard.

"Everything will turn out well," Loki murmured, unsure of whom he was lying to.

-(/)-

Loki coughed up puffs of dust and debris when the Avengers arrived. All the adrenaline rushing through him spun out. At the sight of the freed Doctor, Loki lowered his gaze like a child who knew he had done wrong. He didn't bother drawing a battle stance. He was outnumbered and needed to save his strength for Amora.

That didn't stop everyone else, except the Doctor, from aiming their weapons at him.

"What's the 411 on tall, blonde, and handsome?" Stark asked as he unmasked his visor.

"That was a tear in space, not time," interrupted the Doctor. "Wherever it is, it should be easier to track."

Everyone looked expectantly at Loki.

"He acted like the noble fool he is. Amora, or the Enchantress, has my children. He charged in."

"Y-you have kids?"

Yet only Rogers and Stark displayed any shock at the revelation.

"Yes, several," Loki said hurriedly. He didn't have the time to waste idly with these idiots. "I aim to retrieve them. If I hurry, I can still track—"

"We can't let you leave," objected Rogers. The destruction around them was example enough of why. Director Fury was going to have their heads.

"Do you have the means to retrieve your precious Thor? He could be trapped galaxies away, never to be seen again. Are you willing to risk your comrade?"

"I don't see you playing hero," interjected Stark.

The Doctor cleared his throats before a fight broke out. "You can steer my TARDISi, right? We take one of these chaps so the feel like they have an eyes on us, rescue the kids, return Thor, and save the day in time for a tea."

Loki simply stared. After what he had done, the Doctor was willing to set that aside? He made a note to talk about it later.

Rogers stepped forward. Natasha put a hand on the Captain's shoulder. "You're not dealing with this alone."

The Doctor clasped his hands and grinned madly. An angry jotun, a manipulative spy, a soldier from a different era, and a mad man with a box going on a journey through space? What could possibly go wrong?